Tribute to a Forgotten Pioneer.
The first use of the term essential hypertension used to describe hypertension without any definite cause is usually attributed to the French physician Huchard, Viennese von Basch or to Englishman Albutt. However it is little known that this condition as well as its natural history was described much earlier by a physician of mixed Indian and Irish origin, Frederick Akbar Mohamad. Son of a man who ran a fencing and boxing academy near Brighton, he was the grandson of the famous Dean Mahomet. Dean (probably a corruption of Deen) was born a a couple of years after Plassey in Patna in a minor nobleman’s family. He became a part of the East India Company army and attached himself to Godfrey Evan Baker who later brought him to England. Dean eloped with an Irish lady Jane Daly and became famous for setting up a shampooing establishment in Brighton . Shampooing in those days meant a sort of spa treatment including massages and diet regulations. He became quite famous in this and later was cre...